Los Angeles Clippers co-owner Shelly Sterling said Wednesday that she believes she is legally entitled to maintain ownership of the NBA team and will attempt to do so, even as the pro basketball league pushes to remove her husband from the team he has owned for 33 years.

Sterling described her long tenure as a “die-hard” fan of the Clippers and said she believes that the sanctions against Donald Sterling — which included a lifetime ban and $2.5-million fine — do not apply to “me or my family.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said that this is not acceptable, that the family cannot maintain control of the team.

This is how the Sterlings fight. They are not going to easily give up control. They are going to work in concert. Their egos are too wrapped up in owning the team. Plus, if Sterling (who is battling cancer) passes away during before the team is sold the rest of his family could save hundreds of millions on capital gains taxes. They are not going to go quietly.

The league needs to have a real stomach for this fight, because the Sterlings count on bullying you in the courts. The other owners are united, but this is not going to be simple and clean.